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Principles of Object-Oriented Software Development by Anton Eliens Recommended

ISBN: 0-201-62444-3       Publisher: Addison-Wesley       Pages: 513 pages       Price: £23-95

Categories:   object oriented

Reviewed by Peter Tillier in C Vu 7-6 (Sep 1995)

The book has four sections plus appendices. It is written from a Computer Science viewpoint and as such, contains good justification for the OO ap- proach using a mathematically formal approach. I believe that OO is one area where formal specification techniques can be used to good effect, provided that the language supports the appropriate constructions so that pre-, post- and invariant conditions can be validated.

Some of the maths in the sections on Abstract Data Types (30pp), Polymorphism (37pp) and Behavioural Refinement (25pp) may be rather heavy going for some, but there is some very good material in these chapters.

Apart from the mathematical sections Eliens writes in an easily read style and C Vu readers will like the OO design and programming emphasis. There is in some respects a slight deficiency in the book because analysis is mentioned only fairly briefly and OOA&D methods are covered in only a few pages. These methods are essential for managing and validating OO developments of medium size or larger, so I think more should have been made of them.

It covers a lot of ground in 500 pages and so needs to pack a lot of information on each page, this being achieved by using a small font. I found this to be a bit trying to read at times, but the effort is worth it.

There are some very nice touches in this book - it is one of the few that gives

• clear summaries at the end of each chapter
  
• internet ftp addresses at appropriate points
  
• useful summaries of Smalltalk, C++ and DLP in appendices
  
• exercises for each chapter and answers at the end of the book.

As I said, I liked this book a lot and I think I would have bought it, but the formal specification approach might not be to everyone's taste. If you don't like maths, browse this book in a shop before you buy!